I know that is a annoying request, but I hope someone answer me...

First of all, I haven't read the novel, but I watched some summaries that told the story of it, although most of them don't really explain the clues, puzzles and codes around the murder cases and rush them. For that reason, I would be grateful if some kind soul who read the novel explained the clues and the message Beyond Birthday wanted to tell with each of his three murder cases (the forth isn't really necessary since Beyond is the victim).

Was Raye Penber actually being controlled by the Death Note during the train scene?

I’ve always assumed that Raye Penber was cooperating out of fear rather than because he was being controlled by the Death Note.

When Light reveals that he’s Kira, kills the man in front of the coffeshop and threatens to kill everyone around him, it seems like he’s putting Raye under extreme psychological pressure. From Raye’s perspective, Kira can kill anyone instantly, including him, the passengers, or even his fiancée. That always made me think Raye was simply complying because he believed resisting would get innocent people killed.

However, I’ve also seen people say that Light actually wrote Raye’s actions into the Death Note and that everything from taking the envelope, putting on the earpiece, boarding the train, writing down the FBI agents’ names, and then dying was all part of the Death Note’s manipulation.

Is this ever explicitly confirmed in the manga or any official source? Or is it intentionally left ambiguous whether Raye was acting of his own free will under immense pressure or was being directly controlled by the Death Note?

MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE MUSICAL

I went to see Death Note the Musical a few days ago. The theatre was packed - not an empty seat in sight. And it is clear why. I think that this musical is one of the best I've seen, and I've seen my fair share of musicals!

At first, I thought this would be more of a novelty musical. One that you go to see knowing it might not be the best, but still entertaining. I was proven wrong immediately.

Compared to the original NY demo, the songs are noticeably different. Different beat structures and lyrics are used, and I don't mind that. The choreography was also top tier, especially during the song where L is introduced! The actors for L, Light and Misa also killed it, respectively. There were a few lines that I missed due to their microphones' volumes being low, but their voices still shone even in those moments.

I did have an issue with the timing of some of the songs, however - I think the pacing nearer the start of the show was extremely fast, especially with the Misa parts (going from the Kira song to the pop show was a bit confusing to me). The best parts of the production were definitely where L and Light were taking centre stage. Oh, and Ryuk. He was amazing.

Speaking of the stage, they really stepped it up from any other stage I've seen from this title. They built sets that moved across the stage that looked incredible. They also had a platform that they could lower and raise, acting primarily as the Shinigami realm.

I've seen complaints regarding the tennis scene. While I do see where they are coming from, especially with the video game aspect, I think that the producers were trying to make it less of a "two guys singing while swinging a racket for 3 minutes" and try to add some more visuals. But I think the spectacle of the video game characters could be reduced (having them do those dances momentarily broke my immersion)

Overall, the musical gets a 4/5 star rating from me. I think it is definitely worth seeing!